Leon Panetta’s Nightmare Is Today's National Security CrisisBy Dov S. Zakheim, The Hill: “Responding to a request from Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta outlined, in the most dire terms, the consequences of Congress’s failure to reach an agreement on deficit reduction.”

More than three decades ago, Michael D. Griffin was at the center of the military’s “Star Wars” initiative, working to realize President Ronald Reagan’s dream of shielding the United States from Soviet missiles. Now the 69-year-old scientist is back at the Pentagon as its top technology official, looking to revive some of the same missile defense concepts. – Washington Post

CHINA:
Avic's J-31 Fighter Is a Winner After AllBy Bradley Perrett & Stephen Trimble, Aviation Week: “Not long after the J-31 fighter prototype from Avic's Shenyang Aircraft Corp. appeared in 2012, analysts realized that it was not, after all, a new combat aircraft for the Chinese military.”

Andrea Gilli and Mauro Gilli write: The China Airshow in Zhuhai is the annual exhibition that China uses, for both political and commercial reasons, to display the progress of her aerospace capabilities. […] The bulk of the attention, however, went to the mockup of a new stealth drone, the CH-7, that resembles Northrop Grumman’s XB-47B demonstrator. […] Some commentators even concluded that, with this new achievement, China has already passed or will soon pass the United States in next-generation unmanned aircraft technology. – War on the Rocks

Why Airpower Needs LandpowerBy Jahara Matisek & Jon McPhilamy, Modern War Institute: “In 2014, Air Force Magazine published an article in which the author proclaimed “Airpower has eclipsed land power as the primary means of destroying enemy forces.””

Don’t expect any Trump boost to defense spendingMackenzie Eaglen | Breaking Defense Recent cuts to topline defense spending show that President Trump would rather score political points about the deficit and debt over the much-needed improvements to and maintenance of America's military.

Anthony H. Cordesman writes: For several decades, American strategic planning has been little more than a facade for annual line item budget debates. Arguably, U.S. strategic planning peaked when Harold Brown was Secretary of Defense in 1981. From that point onwards, efforts to create and manage U.S. national security using some effective linkage between strategy and real-world planning, programming, and budgeting activity steadily declined. – Center for Strategic and International Studies

The Trump administration had already been planning for relatively flat national-security spending, and more recently, a slightly decline beginning in 2020.

The ticking nuclear budget time bombMackenzie Eaglen | War on the Rocks The current path is an irrational and costly recipe for sucking funding from other defense programs or buying fewer new nuclear delivery systems and reducing the size of the arsenal. The longer military and political leaders deny this reality, the worse off America’s nuclear deterrent and armed forces will be.

Trump’s defense buildup is as real as the wallGary J. Schmitt | The Weekly Standard At $700 billion, the Pentagon will be able to address some obvious readiness problems. But how long will it be able to sustain that fix? The answer is not long at all. Proposing and then authorizing budgets to fund the military is a product of the two political branches. Trump can only succeed in hollowing out the military’s capabilities if Congress agrees.

The Fiscal Year 2020 budget may slow down modernization efforts and research into next-generation weapons, like hypersonic missiles, but will still invest in growing the military force and boosting readiness for aircraft such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, the deputy secretary of defense told reporters today. – USNI News

Don’t expect any Trump boost to defense spendingReuters Mackenzie Eaglen writes that recent cuts to topline defense spending show that President Trump would rather score political points about the deficit and debt than improve and maintain America’s military.

How the West’s Research Aids China’s MilitaryBy Alex Joske, ASPI Strategist: “In 2016, Chinese student Huang Xianjun completed his Ph.D. at the University of Manchester, working with the discoverers of graphene, a material with incredible strength, electrical conductivity and flexibility. Then he returned to China to work on key projects for the People’s Liberation Army."
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Senate Democrats Absurdly Blame Budget Deficit on RepublicansBrian Riedl, E21This week, the Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee released a ludicrous taxpayer-funded “study” that attempts to prove that the entire budget deficit is the fault of Republicans. The report uses a hyper partisan methodology that essentially rigs the results.The study’s argument is as follows: Since 2000, defense spending has risen $205 billion above inflation, and tax cuts have shaved $546 billion from annual tax revenues. Add in $183 billion in resulting interest costs, and you get a $935 billion annual tab that exceeds the current $779 billion budget deficit. Therefore, in the study’s words, “Republican policies caused the 2018 budget deficit.”Read more here....

Trump's New Counterterrorism Strategy By Clifford D. May, The Washington Times: ““We remain a nation at war.” President Trump’s new National Strategy for Counterterrorism (NSC) begins with that simple statement of fact. The 21st century is an age of conflict. That’s unlikely to change any time soon.”

The U.S. Army Will (and Must) Get HeavierBy Dan Gouré, RealClearDefense: “The Army’s modernization strategy has one significant characteristic that will impact not only how that service will fight but also the conduct of joint and combined operations.”

White House Report Warns 'All Facets' Of U.S. Defense Industrial Base Are At RiskBy Loren Thompson, Forbes: “The report begins by identifying five "macro forces" causing weakness in industries important to national security: unpredictable federal funding, poor government business practices, predatory behavior of other nations, erosion in traditional manufacturing industries and inadequate investment in critical skills..”

Navy’s New SSN(X) Attack Sub To Be Faster, More LethalBy Ben Werner, USNI News: “The Navy's next class fast attack submarine will be designed for a return to blue-water great power competition, where the ability to support forces ashore is less important than operating in the open ocean hunting rival submarines.”​

The Indian Navy’s new ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) INS Arihant was the boomer that completed the month-long deterrent patrol. Whilst this is not insignificant – it is the first country outside of the five members of the U.N. Security Council to develop this capability – it also shows how far away India is to achieve its goal of joining the other great powers in establishing a credible sea-based deterrent. – USNI News

Why Does the Army Need Ten Years to Begin Fielding a New Recon Helicopter? By Loren Thompson, Forbes: “The Army has been seeking a new rotorcraft that can find and attack targets in contested airspace for a long, long time. So long that the last of its legacy recon helicopters was retired last year. By that time, the venerable Kiowa scout had been in service for nearly half a century.”

Army Futures Command Must Perform MiraclesBy Dan Gouré, RealCearDefense: “In recent public statements, General John Murray, the newly-confirmed commander of the Army’s fledgling Futures Command, has been downplaying expectations for his new organization.

Marines Deploy First F-35Bs to the Middle East By Gidget Fuentes, USNI News: “Marines training on the ground on the Horn of Africa will see a new set of wings pulling the classic close air support mission: The F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.”

Army Rethinking How Soldiers Will Communicate In Future Combat By Loren Thompson, Forbes: “There's a debate going on in the U.S. Army about what the military service's next combat vehicle and rotorcraft should look like. When it comes to communicating on the battlefields of tomorrow, though, everybody in the Army seems to agree on what they would like.”

NAVSEA Kicks Off 20-Year Yard Modernization By Megan Eckstein, USNI News: “The Navy plans to build momentum for its 20-year, $21-billion ship repair yard modernization plan through key early wins: proving that a redesign of the yard in Maine translates to a substantial increase in productivity, and renovating drydocks to accommodate the Navy’s newest nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers.”

Army Acquisition Military Deputy Now Has Two Bosses By Jen Judson, Defense News: “In addition to working for the chief Army acquisition executive, Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski will also serve as the deputy commander to the Army Futures Command commander Gen. Mike Murray, according to Army Under Secretary Ryan McCarthy.”

The Pentagon is downplaying major F-35 Joint Strike Fighter design flaws that could leave service members at risk in an effort to keep the long-scrutinized program on schedule, a watchdog group warned this week. - Military.com

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced Monday that Israel is purchasing advanced rockets that he says can reach "anywhere in the Middle East." - Haaretz

The idea has long been in the works, but the Defense Ministry’s decision on Monday to finally purchase new precision ground-to-ground rockets for the Ground Forces is nothing short of a revolution. Years from now, it will also likely be looked at as one of the most significant decisions Avigdor Liberman will have made as Israel’s defense minister. - Jerusalem Post

The Problem With China's Powerful Air ForceBy J. Tyler Lovell & Robert Farley, The National Interest: “The appropriation strategy remains constrained by bottleneck technologies due to lack of testing data and industrial ecology. This problem is starkly illustrated by China’s ongoing difficulty in producing a high-quality indigenous jet engine.”​

Russian Ground-Launched Non-Strategic Nuclear WeaponsBy Mark B. Schneider, RealClearDefense: “Russia maintains the largest force of ground-launched non-strategic or tactical nuclear weapons in the world. Even more striking is the fact that essentially 100% of these weapons violate Russian arms control commitments.”
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